NAIDOC Week: A message from our Elder-in-Residence

NAIDOC Week has become a sig­nif­i­cant nation­al event on the Abo­rig­i­nal and Tor­res Strait Islander people’s cal­en­dar, and increas­ing so for many oth­ers. It is a week of cel­e­bra­tion of cul­ture and achieve­ments, and con­tin­ues the call for unity.

The work we are all under­tak­ing here at the Desert Knowl­edge Precinct, I believe sup­ports these calls. NAIDOC itself comes out of his­tor­i­cal calls for unity.

The move­ment fol­lows on from work that Abo­rig­i­nal groups in New South Wales were doing, par­tic­u­lar­ly peo­ple such as William Coop­er and Pas­tor Doug Nicholls. William Coop­er penned the let­ter call­ing for peo­ple, par­tic­u­lar­ly Abo­rig­i­nal and church groups, to come togeth­er in what he described as a day of mourning.

That call for a day of mourn­ing has now become NAIDOC Week – a week of nation­al cel­e­bra­tion we now know and celebrate.

As the Inter­cul­tur­al Elder-in-Res­i­dence at the Desert Knowl­edge Precinct, I would like to extend my thanks for the impor­tant work you do and those oth­ers across Australia.

– Harold Furber; Inter­cul­tur­al Elder-in-Residence